ALI3I Palermo: Contemporary Dining on Via della Libertà

ALI3I brings a more contemporary approach to Sicilian cooking in Palermo, with a tasting menu shaped by local ingredients, thoughtful service and the personal story of Alice Di Gennaro and Liborio Mongiovì.

Palermo, Sicily, Italy

Palermo gives you very little reason to move away from tradition when it comes to food. That is part of the pleasure of being here. Pasta with sardines, caponata, panelle, aubergine, ricotta, seafood and an extraordinary variety of sweets are woven so naturally into the city that several days can pass without feeling any need to look beyond them.

ALI3I offers a different kind of dinner.

Located on Via della Libertà, the restaurant works with many of those familiar ingredients, but presents them through a more contemporary style of cooking. Sicilian flavours remain central, while the combinations, presentation and technique take the dishes somewhere less traditional.

We experienced ALI3I through a five-course tasting menu and, rather than choosing every course ourselves, decided to follow the recommendations of our waitress.

That left some welcome surprise in what would arrive next.

The story behind ALI3I

The restaurant was originally known as Al 131, taking its name from its address at Via della Libertà 131. In late 2022, Alice Di Gennaro and Liborio Mongiovì took it over and began developing the restaurant around their own cooking.

Their story began well beyond Palermo.

Alice comes from Abruzzo, while Liborio is Sicilian, from Canicattì. They trained independently before meeting while working in Rome, then moved together to England, where both gained experience in Michelin-starred kitchens.

They returned to Sicily at the beginning of 2020 and eventually took the opportunity to make the restaurant at number 131 their own.

The name became personal too. ALIBI grew from Alice and Liborio, while the restaurant now presents itself publicly as ALI3I.

Knowing a little of that history makes the restaurant more interesting. Alice and Liborio are not simply names attached to the kitchen; their different backgrounds, the places they worked and their return to Sicily all form part of what eventually reaches the table.

Inside ALI3I on Via della Libertà, where deep green walls, soft lighting and artwork created by a friend of Alice and Liborio give the dining room a more personal character.

The dining room

The dining room has a polished contemporary look, with deep green walls, soft lighting, carefully arranged tables and small floral details throughout the space. A substantial wine display is one of the more prominent features, while the table settings remain relatively simple.

The artwork was what caught our attention most.

Several pieces hang against the green walls, including abstract works in which faces and figures seem to appear the longer you look at them. When we asked about them, Alice, Liborio and the team explained that the works had been created by a friend.

It is a small detail, but knowing the story behind them made the room feel more personal. The restaurant is carefully designed, yet it does not feel as though every element has been chosen simply because it fits a particular restaurant aesthetic.

That personal character continued once dinner began.

Dinner at ALI3I began with a selection of small welcome bites and white wine before moving into the five-course tasting menu.

The tasting menu

Our evening started with small welcome bites before moving into the five-course tasting menu.

We had white wine with dinner, and Sicily had a strong presence in the restaurant’s wine selection. That made sense alongside a menu where Sicilian ingredients appeared repeatedly, even when the dishes themselves looked very different from something you might encounter in a traditional Palermo restaurant.

One of the things I particularly enjoyed was the way every course was presented.

Our waitress explained what had arrived, the main ingredients and, when it mattered, the idea behind the dish. With some of the less obvious combinations, that context genuinely added something. You understood what the kitchen was trying to do before tasting it, without the explanation becoming more important than the food itself.

Bread and breadsticks with a small tomato-based accompaniment and olive oil before the tasting menu began.

Bread and welcome bites

Before the tasting menu properly began, the table filled gradually with the smaller details that accompany dinner: bread, long crisp breadsticks, water and the white wine we would drink through the first part of the meal.

It was a simple beginning, but I liked that the evening was allowed to settle before the first main dish arrived.

Ricorda il calamaro ripieno, ALI3I’s contemporary interpretation of stuffed squid, served as part of the tasting menu.

Ricorda il calamaro ripieno

One of the dishes that stayed with me was Ricorda il calamaro ripieno, ALI3I’s interpretation of stuffed squid.

Even the name gives some indication of the idea behind it. Rather than presenting stuffed squid exactly as you might expect, the dish takes the memory of something familiar and works from there.

That approach suited ALI3I. Traditional flavours were present throughout the dinner, but the restaurant did not seem interested in reproducing them simply because that was how they had always been served.

The connection to Sicily remained, only in a different form.

Uovo pochè with basil potato velouté, summer caponata and Grana — one of the tasting-menu courses at ALI3I in Palermo.

Uovo pochè

That continued with Uovo pochè, made with poached egg, basil potato velouté, summer caponata and Grana.

There was quite a lot happening on the plate, but the combination worked because the individual flavours remained recognisable. The egg and potato brought richness, while the caponata gave the dish a more distinctly Sicilian character.

I particularly liked seeing caponata used this way. It was still familiar, but instead of arriving as a traditional serving of its own, it became part of a more carefully composed dish.

It was also a good example of what ALI3I does well: taking something familiar and changing its presentation without losing the flavour that made it recognisable in the first place.

Plin di calamari with pepper extract, lemon gel and crispy guanciale during our tasting menu at ALI3I.

Plin di calamari

The next course was Plin di calamari, small filled pasta served with pepper extract, lemon gel and crispy guanciale.

The vivid pepper sauce immediately gave the plate a different character from the courses before it, while the squid filling kept the progression of the dinner connected to the sea.

I particularly liked the contrast between the softness of the pasta and the stronger flavours around it. The pepper brought sweetness and depth, while the lemon added enough acidity to keep the dish from feeling heavy.

By this stage, the tasting menu was showing quite a broad range of ideas, moving from the stuffed squid and poached egg into filled pasta before continuing towards the fish course.

Pesce azzurro with crispy bread, smoked aubergine, yellow datterino tomatoes and mint — one of the standout courses of our tasting menu at ALI3I.

Pesce azzurro

The fish course was Pesce azzurro, served with crispy bread, smoked aubergine, yellow datterino tomatoes and mint.

This was one of my favourite combinations of the evening.

The smoked aubergine brought depth, while the tomatoes added sweetness and acidity. Mint lifted the whole dish and kept it fresh around the fish.

Compared with some of the earlier courses, the presentation felt relatively restrained, which suited it. Nothing distracted unnecessarily from the main ingredient, and the flavours around it made sense together.

It was also one of the courses where the restaurant’s relationship with Sicily felt particularly natural. Aubergine, tomato, mint and fish hardly need an elaborate explanation in this part of the world; ALI3I simply brought them together in a more contemporary way.

La nostra torta, ALI3I’s lemon and almond dessert, with bright citrus notes and torched meringue to finish the tasting menu.

Dessert

Dessert was La nostra torta, ALI3I’s lemon and almond cake.

After the savoury courses, it was exactly the kind of dessert I wanted. The lemon kept it bright and fresh, while almond gave the cake more depth without making the finish feel heavy.

Visually, it was also one of the strongest plates of the dinner, with vivid yellow details and torched meringue standing out immediately when it arrived.

It tasted as good as it looked. The acidity of the lemon balanced the sweetness particularly well, and after several courses it felt far more appropriate than something richer or dominated by chocolate.

Petit fours served over coffee beans to finish our tasting menu at ALI3I, one of the more playful presentation details of the evening.

Petit fours

Dinner did not finish with the cake.

Petit fours arrived afterwards, presented over a bed of coffee beans rather than on a conventional plate.

It was one of the details I remembered most clearly afterwards, and one of my personal favourites. The presentation was playful without feeling out of place, and after the more structured progression of the tasting menu it gave the final part of dinner a different character.

The small sweets also meant the evening did not end abruptly with dessert. There was still something to pick at while we remained at the table for a little longer.

The dining room at ALI3I, where attentive service, a relaxed pace and a strong wine selection shaped the evening.

Service

Service was one of the strongest parts of our experience.

At the beginning of dinner, our waitress spent time taking us through the menu and asking what we liked. Rather than simply listing the available dishes, she helped us understand the options and recommended what she thought would work best for each course.

I told her I was happy to trust her judgement.

That changed the way we experienced the menu. Instead of approaching dinner with our own fixed list of dishes, we allowed someone who knew the kitchen to shape the progression for us.

It worked very well.

Each course was then introduced when it arrived, with enough detail to understand what we were eating and why certain elements had been brought together. The explanations were useful without making dinner feel formal or rehearsed.

We also had the opportunity to speak with Alice, Liborio and the team about the restaurant itself, including the artwork around the dining room.

Those conversations made the restaurant feel considerably more personal. Alice and Liborio did not feel like distant names attached to the kitchen; they were clearly part of the restaurant we were experiencing.

The pacing was equally good. There was enough time between courses to enjoy the dinner properly, but never so much that the evening lost momentum.

Is ALI3I worth visiting in Palermo?

ALI3I is easy to recommend if you are looking for contemporary Sicilian dining in Palermo while still wanting the food to feel connected to the island.

You do not need to be particularly knowledgeable about tasting menus or understand every technique involved before arriving. The team does a good job of guiding you through the menu and explaining what needs explaining.

That also makes ALI3I easier to enjoy if tasting menus are not normally the way you choose restaurants.

It works for a dinner with friends, a couple visiting Palermo, a celebration, or simply an evening when you want to experience Sicilian ingredients in a different form.

For me, the best way to experience ALI3I would be exactly as we did: give the team some idea of your preferences, listen to their recommendations and allow the dinner to unfold from there.

Final thoughts

What stayed with me after ALI3I was not only a particular dish.

It was the complete evening: our waitress guiding us through the menu, the explanation as each plate arrived, the Sicilian wine, the artwork on the walls, our conversations with Alice and Liborio and the final petit fours sitting amongst coffee beans.

The food felt carefully thought through, but the evening itself remained easy to enjoy.

You can spend most of a trip to Sicily eating traditionally and have an extraordinary time doing so. ALI3I gives you the opportunity to spend one evening seeing familiar ingredients handled differently, while still feeling connected to the place you are in.

I would gladly return.

Plan your visit

ALI3I
Via della Libertà 131
90143 Palermo, Sicily, Italy

You may also find the restaurant listed online as Ristorante 131 – ALIBI.

Experience
Contemporary Sicilian dining
Tasting menu and à la carte options may vary seasonally

Instagram
@alibi_ristorante131

Website
ristorante131.it

Best for
Contemporary Sicilian dining in Palermo
Tasting menus
Couples and dinners with friends
Celebrations and special occasions
Travellers looking beyond the traditional trattoria experience

Sponsored experience with ALI3I.
All observations and opinions expressed in this Journal are my own.